Source: Sioux City Journal, January 30, 2002

Kathleen Marie (Callaghan) Payer, 51, of Boise, Idaho, formerly of Sioux City, died Friday, Jan. 25, 2002, at her residence.

Memorial services will be 11 a.m. Friday at St. Michael's Catholic Church in Sioux City, with the Rev. Timothy J. Hogan officiating. Burial of the cremated remains will be in Calvary Cemetery. Visitation with the family will be 10 a.m. until service Friday at the church. Arrangements are under the direction of Larkin Northside Funeral Home in Sioux City.

Kathy was born Feb. 25, 1950, in Omaha, the daughter of Ambrose J. Callaghan Jr., M.D., and Marie LaFontaine Callaghan. She came to Sioux City as an infant with her parents and was raised in Sioux City. She attended Blessed Sacrament Catholic Grade School and graduated from Heelan High School in 1968. She received her bachelor's degree in nursing, graduating with honors from Creighton University in 1972. She received her master's degree from the University of Wyoming.

She married Daniel V. Payer on Nov. 9, 1996, in Sioux City. She had lived in Boise for the last nine years.

Kathy was a woman with many gifts and talents. She taught psychiatric nursing at both the University of Wyoming and at Boise State University. As a nurse educator, she was known for the high standards she set for students and for her humor. Kate inspired, prodded, challenged and led students to perform at their highest potential. She received numerous teaching awards, and for many years was the adviser to the BSU Student Nurses Association. While at BSU, she was instrumental in starting the nursing clinic at the Winterhouse homeless shelter.

As a psychiatric nurse practitioner, she was known for her dedication, compassion, creativity and clinical expertise. Kathy shared her expertise with many professional groups and was a sought-after lecturer on the topics of post-partum depression and mood disorders. At the time for her death, she was practicing at the Sage Health Group in Boise.

Kate was well-known for her love of the holidays, especially St. Patrick's Day and Halloween. Her wardrobe of costumes was extensive, and she never hesitated to show up in "full Irish" whether at work at the university or at the office.

Survivors include her husband, Dan Payer of Boise; her mother, Marie Callaghan of Sioux City; three sisters, Mary Joyce and her husband, Michael Capobianco of Clive, Iowa, Karen and her husband, Steve Nold of Conyers, Ga., and Megan Callaghan of Sioux City; a brother, Ambrose J. "Jim" Callaghan III and his wife, Beth of Huntington Beach, Calif.; and numerous nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her father, Dr. Ambrose J. Callaghan Jr.; and both her maternal and paternal grandparents.